By SEAN BOSTON
Hutch Post
BUHLER, Kan. — Buhler High School senior Hannah Khan has spent the past few days adjusting to life in a city that looks and feels nothing like home. The wide open skies of Reno County have been replaced by towering buildings and crowded sidewalks.
For Khan, it is all part of the whirlwind that comes with being selected to perform in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. She arrived in New York on Saturday and has spent the early part of the week in long rehearsals, uniform fittings and group activities with hundreds of student musicians from across the country. The moment still feels surreal.
“I think it is all finally sinking in now that I am here,” Khan said before she left for the trip. “I think it will be surreal to be a part of something so much larger than myself.”
Khan learned she had been selected in August after submitting an audition video on July 30. She filmed a YouTube performance that covered all required musical elements and sent it in without expecting much.
She found out on the first day of school for freshmen, as she was helping new students find their classrooms.
“I just threw my phone across the room. I was so shocked,” she said. “I told Mr. Yates right away. I never expected to get in.”
Buhler Director of Bands Nathan Biggs said only about two students from each state are chosen each year. He called it one of the most significant accomplishments a high school musician can achieve.
Khan is the second Buhler student to march in the parade, following tuba player Bryan Regier in 2022.
“We are very proud of her,” Biggs said. “She is well rounded, well spoken and involved in many activities. It is an awesome opportunity and she has earned it. I hope she absorbs everything she can from this experience.”
Khan and the rest of the selected musicians were fitted for their official Macy’s uniforms shortly after arriving Saturday. The red jackets and white pants will replace the traditional Buhler maroon on Thursday morning when the parade begins along Central Park West and makes its way toward Herald Square.
Rehearsals on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are long and detailed, designed to prepare the group for both the parade route and their performance in front of the cameras. The group had a sightseeing day on Sunday, giving Khan her first real taste of New York. Her mother and aunt are scheduled to join her later this week.
The parade itself is what she has been looking forward to most.
“I have watched it on TV my whole life,” Khan said. “Being in it is just crazy. I think being around the floats and all the other bands will be amazing.”
Khan has played mellophone since seventh grade, which grew out of her love for French horn. She began band in fifth grade on trumpet but planned from the start to switch.
“I picked trumpet because I knew I wanted to switch to French horn,” she said. “Playing mellophone for marching has been really cool. I have marched every year.”
Her classmates and friends at Buhler have been excited for her, though she admits she does not broadcast the news widely.
“I try to be humble about it,” she said. “The band knows, and a lot of people have told me they are going to watch and try to point me out on the screen.”
Representing Buhler at a national event is a responsibility she takes seriously.
“We get to show the small school spirit. We still have a lot to offer and can be successful,” she said. “There are misconceptions about small towns, so it is important to show that places like Buhler can produce successful musicians.”
Khan is also looking forward to meeting students from across the country. Her experience at ALA Girls Nation in Washington D.C. last summer sparked an interest in connecting with people from different backgrounds.
“Different towns are so different,” she said. “A lot of people come from big cities and I do not know what that is like. It is interesting to hear other people’s perspectives.”
She expects to spend part of this week describing Buhler to students from large metro areas who have never seen a field of crops or walked a dirt road at sunset.
“I love telling people about Buhler,” she said. “I talk about the dirt roads and the open sky and how everybody cares about each other. It is safe, and you are supported, and everybody knows everybody. That is what makes it special.”
As Thursday approaches, Biggs said he hopes Khan will come home with memories that last far beyond high school.
“I want her to enjoy the city, enjoy the parade and enjoy meeting new people,” he said. “Mostly, I want her to come back with stories she will remember forever.”
Khan will join more than 700 student musicians on Thursday morning as they step onto one of the nation’s most watched holiday stages. For the senior from Buhler, it will be a moment years in the making, one she once only pictured watching on television.
This year, she will be right there in the middle of it.